THE SPECIAL FEATURES OF
TRAPA NATURAL WOOD PRODUCTS
Quality takes time
Before we process our wood, it is air-dried for more than a year, then mildly kiln-dried. Then a heat and pressure treatment causes the wood-inherent sugar (xylose) to caramelise. This elaborate process ensures the highest wood quality that lasts for decades - and makes TRAPA floors stable, tension-free and unconditionally suitable for commercial use.
Natural surfaces
We do not treat the wood superficially, as is usually the case, but inside the cell and pore system. Through a gentle surface treatment with lye and natural oil we preserve the good, natural properties of the wood. This keeps it warm and pleasant, open to diffusion and non-slip. Our floors are protected from wear, tear and soiling and are recommended for allergies.
Sustainable, regional, durable
All TRAPA woods come from sustainably managed, PEFC-certified forests in Central Europe. We manufacture all products entirely in the Austrian TRAPA workshops and guarantee ecologically sustainable natural floors with long durability.
100 % in-house production
In contrast to what is usual in the production of wooden floors, we do not buy in any semi-finished or finished products such as top, middle or back layers for our natural wooden floors. Instead, all wooden components for the production of floors as well as walls and furniture are manufactured in TRAPA's own Austrian workshops. This ensures the highest quality and local jobs, promotes Austrian forestry, avoids unnecessarily long transports and is sustainable. The optimal coordination of material and production from a single source results in tension-free wooden elements as well as non-slip, hygienic and light-stabilised floors with natural surfaces that become more and more beautiful with the years of use.
Sustainability
We use PEFC-certified wood from sustainable forestry for our natural wood floors
We at TRAPA attach great importance to the careful and responsible treatment of people and the environment. Therefore, the wood for TRAPA products comes from PEFC-certified, regional forestry. Our company itself is also certified.
PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) is a globally active institution for ensuring sustainable forest management. The PEFC certificate is based on the strict criteria of the European forestry ministers for the protection of forests. Compliance with the high standards is monitored by independent certification bodies.
Colours
from the wood's inherent ingredients
For our natural oak floors we use first-class French Sessile Oak from the Alsace region. To reduce the inner tension, the wood at TRAPA dries after sawing for one year in the fresh air. After air-drying, the Sessile Oak, which is also used for high-quality wine barrels, is gently kiln-dried to a humidity level of 7 % using heat and air.
Once the internal wood tension has been removed, we treat the Sessile Oak in a tubular oven under heat and a negative pressure of 18 bar with steam. Thereby the wood-inherent sugar (xylose) caramelises and our warm earthy tones are created in the most natural, chemical-free way.
Light-stabilized natural surfaces
Much glass, much sun
The biggest "natural" enemy of wooden floors is the sun. More precisely: the UV light, which changes the colour of very light and very dark woods. Since modern building involves ever larger glass surfaces - and therefore more and more sunlight - light stabilization has become an important issue for some colours.
Just like the colours of our natural wood floors, their light stability is created exclusively through natural, wood-inherent ingredients. In order to achieve lasting light stability, dark oak floors, for example, are first subjected to heat pressure treatment, which caramelises the wood sugar, and then undergo a pH-modified water bath. This triggers a natural iron tannin reaction in the wood, which prevents the dark oak from fading, even under permanent exposure to UV light. This however only works with the Sessile Oak from Alsace. Other oak varieties have an irregular tannic acid distribution within, wherefore the iron tannin reaction, which is essential for light stability, would be inconsistent.
During the entire work process, each plank is handled and checked several times: As always at TRAPA, human labour and modern technology work together.